


you shine brighter (than anyone)

by thedreamerdelta



Series: let your heart win [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: (of the magical variety), Accidental Voyeurism, Ambiguous Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Blindfolds, F/M, Feedback Loops, Female Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Fingering, Gender-Neutral Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Inappropriate Use of Allagan Relics, Intimately Lewd Hand-Holding, Magical Feedback Loops, Magical Stamina, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Oneshot, Other, Overstimulation, POV Second Person, Patch 5.0: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Porn with Feelings, Sensory Deprivation, Sex Magic, Shameless Devotion, Spoilers, Teleportation, Voyeurism, aetherplay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:00:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25565509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedreamerdelta/pseuds/thedreamerdelta
Summary: It soon became clear that the stagnation inherent in so much light-aspected aether had negated your heat suppressants. Entirely so. Perhaps this little trip hadn’t been such a good idea after all. Still, the image of your newest supplicant kneeling before you worked wonderfully to fuel your newest fantasies.The Exarch unwittingly sees you calling out for him and takes it upon himself to be “helpful”.You weren’t exactly complaining.
Relationships: G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch/Reader, G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch/Warrior of Light
Series: let your heart win [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2063199
Comments: 38
Kudos: 206
Collections: Heat Wave





	you shine brighter (than anyone)

**Author's Note:**

> Aka “you read enough nsfw things and it rubs off on you I guess”.  
> A one-shot heatfic. 5.0/Exarch spoilers.

You could feel it the moment the first Lightwarden dissipated.

The warmth.

The _aching_.

 _Oh no,_ you thought in vain. 

_Perhaps,_ you thought weakly, _this hadn’t been such a good idea after all._

You supposed the stagnation inherent in so much light-aspected aether had completely negated your heat suppressants.

It didn’t make matters any better that the newest object of your latest fantasies had brought it upon himself to kneel- Kneel! In front of _you_? As if _you_ were the reigning sovereign of the area and not him! Your face was flushed with the mere memory (and the heat besides). Seeing someone that had been by your side, taking every blow meant for you with an unshakeable, undeniable _need_ to protect you with every inch of skill he possessed, every worn fiber of his very being... You could not help but wonder who you were to him, exactly.

For you could hear the sheer _devotion_ in his words, could you not? They were so uncommonly full of emotion and longing and _wanting_ that you almost couldn’t prevent yourself from staggering a step forward with a sudden _need_ to pull him into your arms and-

Anyway. Now you were here, making use of your fingers for the _n_ th time, writhing on your back with an unquenchable thirst you hadn’t felt in years. (Gods only know how you had made it back through Lakeland to your room in the Pendants without people noticing your state.) If only Urianger were here, you thought, he might have been able to shed some light (no pun intended) on how best to resolve your sticky situation.

“Mayhap the aetheric unbalancing by the Lightwarden hath wrought the unexpected,” the mind-version of the Scion said in your thoughts. “I suspect thou must needs take more caution in facing thine foes on the First.” (Once he’d finished blushing, that was. One wondered how him and Moenbryda ever-)

But no, you interrupted yourself, now was not the time for such thoughts. 

Your found family deserved better than that. You didn’t think of them in that way.

This mysterious devotee, on the other hand…What would he give to worship at the altar of your body? What would you be able to make him do - only to find no coercion was ever necessary?

You couldn’t see his eyes as he had knelt before you - yet you knew they had been shining with adoration all the same. You called out into the empty room as the memory of the Crystarium’s leader on his knees brought you to completion once more.

Would that you could see it in person again.

Panting, you withdrew your digits for a short reprieve, damp hair stuck to your face with sweat. From above you knew your body appeared wholly, utterly debauched. It had been many, many bells of this unquenchable need that only had built with every second after the last bit of light had dissolved into your skin. You had to do something - merely your own touch was clearly not enough. A trip to Spagyrics, perhaps? Surely the First wasn’t _that_ different than the Source; surely someone here knew the recipe for a blissfully quenched thirst. You pulled the thinnest of layers over yourself, groaning as the soft fabric rubbed your tingling skin, donned the most comfortable sandals you could find, and opened the Pendants door.

The Exarch stood there, hand poised to knock. 

“Ah, my friend- ‘tis good to- to see you awake.” he said, voice slightly quavering as it hadn’t done even once since you’d met him. His face was bright red, but he made no motion to cover it, as though he didn’t seem to be aware of it. (He didn’t seem the type to be able to ignore it if he did.)

Did he _know_? Already?

Impossible.

“Exarch,” you replied shortly, muscles seemingly frozen as the unknowing object of your fantasies twisted his hands nervously before you. 

“I-” he started, wavered, then took a deep breath, nose twitching. He appeared to steel himself, hands fisting in his robes, and straightened his back. “May I come in?”

He _definitely_ knew. But then… Why-? How?

“Of course,” your traitorous voice replied, door held wide open by frozen muscles. 

The Exarch stepped neatly past you into the room, too close to be anything but teasing. You repressed a shiver as his dark robes trailed delicately along what showed of your bare skin.

_What were you doing?_

You had not the faintest idea - but you knew, somehow, that the mysterious voice that had called you across time and space would never (not _ever_ ) betray your trust, should you choose to place it in him.

That he was - in a word - safe. 

And that, above all, he would do _whatever_ it took to keep you hale, even at his own expense.

You shut the door behind him. 

* * *

The Exarch was overwhelmed with your scent the moment you opened the door.

He knew it’d be powerful, and _yet-_

Memory had, for once, failed him.

He was wholly, utterly unprepared for it.

For all his supposed willpower - It was all he could do not to leap on you at a moment’s glance. To tear those ill-fitting outer robes off your sweat-damp skin and kiss you within an inch of your life until both your thoughts swam and you could think of naught but him, him, _him._

It was concern for your wellbeing that had prompted him to open the viewing portal earlier in the Ocular - naught else, he had thought to himself, beginning the motions with his stave. Surely anyone would want to make sure that you were okay, after absorbing an entire Lightwarden’s aether. 

(Lyna was still in awe, the poor woman. It was understandable. Even after all the tales he’d told of what the night sky looked like, he could tell the captain hadn’t quite believed him that the primordial Light would ever someday give way to an endless sea of stars, nor that it would happen within her lifetime.)

(He gave her the day off.)

After all, none had yet defeated a Lightwarden and lived to tell the tale. So then - it was only to reassure himself of your continued good health, he had justified it, and finished the spell, aether flowing through him and convalescing into the shimmering image of your room in the Pendants. He had expected to see you sleeping, perhaps, or reading one of the many tomes he had left for you in the drawers.

Taking stock of your glamours, even.

The Exarch had _not_ expected to see you unclothed on the bedspread, chasing your pleasure with an unmatched desperation that suggested you had been at it for bells before he had scryed upon the scene. 

He nearly dropped his weapon.

_O-oh._

For all his years of maturity... As much as he wanted to pretend otherwise, he was not unaffected - quite the opposite, judging by the building heat in his groin. He palmed himself ashamedly, willing his growing length to stop distracting him. 

He was _not_ meant to be watching this, he thought with guilt as you angled your fingers deeper within yourself. 

The Exarch finally pulled himself together and averted his eyes, getting ready to close the viewing portal as he did his best to ignore your cries of pleasure. Even if he _wanted_ to help, he thought (fooling no one - least of all himself), it was not his place.

But... if he admitted it to himself... he had secretly _hoped-_

Your eyes opened towards the ceiling, staring seemingly directly at him.

“Exarch, p- _please-_ ”

The spell cut off as the stave left his hand and clattered to the floor.

_Too much._ It was too much. He couldn’t just stand here and watch you deal with your inescapable heat on your own - especially when you called for him (for _him_!) like that. His aching length, neglected for far too long, seemingly _begged_ of him to reciprocate.

...Surely it was acceptable to at least _offer_ you assistance?

He left the Ocular and made his way through the Crystarium along the upper deck to avoid as many people as possible, eventually finding himself outside your room. He couldn’t hear you anymore - these rooms were too well sound-proofed (and thank the Twelve for that) - but the growing aroma from within made his nostrils twitch. Gods, was that-? Could he scent you even now? How long had you been laying there, a slave to your pleasure, mindlessly coming on your fingers again and again and _again-_

_Concentrate._

One thing at a time.

He raised his hand to knock on the door to your room - and it swung open before him.

* * *

So here you both were, avoiding each other's eyes.

The Warrior of Light (Darkness?), defeater and tamer of eikons, liberator of Doma and Ala Mhigo, vanquisher of as of yet one lone Lightwarden with more to come, several midway into an unexpected heat that, until earlier that day had been successfully suppressed.

The Crystal Exarch, founder and leader of the Crystarium, defender of the First’s last bastion of hope, summoner of (admittedly) questionable aetherical aim, and trying his absolute best to ignore your very tantalizing scent in order that he not devour you.

Thus was the scene set:

Standing in silence, two fighters, both alike in dignity.

That is to say - currently, none.

  
  


“Why-?” you broke the silence, hesitantly. Your cheeks would have flushed, were you not already so sweaty and feverish with heat that it didn’t particularly matter.

He thought about it. Apart from what he couldn’t tell you, why _did_ he want you as much as he did? Was it your gaze? The way your eyes had looked at him with steadfast determination overshadowed by loss even now, just as they had more than a hundred years ago?

...That fell under “what he couldn’t tell you”, didn’t it?

He settled for the simpler, less revealing answer.

“Your... condition is my own doing, I believe. I assure you I had no inclination that something like this would happen. As such, I shall, do my utmost to oblige you - that is of course, _if_ you wish me to assist, dear friend.”

You frowned. “I… I would say _yes_ , but…” 

His heart clenched. It was well within your right to refuse, he knew, but it still hurt to hear, especially when…No matter.

“Very well,” he cut you off curtly, glad for once of his hidden gaze secreting his emotions from view.

He knew it was too good to be true, anyway.

Your eyes widened, and you rushed forward to stop him from leaving.

“No!” you interjected, trying to explain. “It’s just - I _am_ attracted. To you.”

You were? Perhaps he had not been wrong after all- but then...

“I didn’t… I don’t want you to feel obligated,” you continued as he turned back to you with poorly-disguised hope. “It’s not something you should feel you _need_ to do - only if you truly want to.” 

The Exarch sighed a breath of relief - and trepidation. He stepped towards you and looked you over carefully. “Of course I do.” 

“Nor do I want you to look at me any differently,” you said in an uncharacteristically small voice as he enveloped you in his arms. 

“I could never, my friend,” he replied, guiding you backwards a step at a time until you reached the bed. 

He’d waited over a century. An eternity, it seemed, of longing to know you once more, to have your touch upon him in the most intimate of ways. 

No promises had been made between the two of you, but - You had told him, once, that you felt a connection. You had looked deeply into his eyes on that far-off night, the shimmering Crystal Tower of the Source reflected in their gleam as you both sat upon the windswept cliff...

If only history had not paved for him a different road, perhaps the stars by which he set his course could have been yours to chart together.

His eyes burned up at you from beneath the cowl, though you could not see them.

“There is nothing I would rather do in this very moment than use my mouth to bring you repeatedly to completion until you can simply take no more - or until you have your fill of me. 

Your cheeks burned, but you nodded. “...Okay, then,” you acquiesced, laying back against the cold pillows as you covered your face with a hand, suddenly nervous.

“Close your eyes and raise your arms,” he gently directed you, pulling your ineffective layers over your head as you did so. He trailed his mouth down your naked skin, mapping the scars of your body with lips and tongue and hands as if it were the last time he would ever get to do so. He halted his progress for a brief pause to lavish unexpected (yet entirely welcome) attention on your stiff nipples, before continuing down, down, _down_ until he knelt in front of you once more, only _this_ time with his head leveled at your aching groin and resting neatly between your _thighs_ -

“Sing for me, oh Warrior of Light and Darkness,” the Exarch purred, and as he dipped his tongue into your slick core you could not help but obey with a pleasure-filled cry, the unbridled heat within spurring you to even greater heights.

Why, for heavens’ sake, had you _never_ spent your heat like this before? you thought absently in the small part of your brain that could somehow still process words properly. You should note it for the next-  
  
He eased a finger into you and simultaneously, viciously _sucked_ , and your last remaining thought fled as you came for the first time on his hands and mouth.

It would not be the last.  
  


* * *

A long while later, wherein the heat between your legs had quelled some, but not completely, you could see him beginning to flag with exhaustion.

"You don't have to stay if you need to rest," you say, slightly hoarser (and much happier) than you'd started the day. Your foot caught his shoulder, pulling his attention away. "I don't want you to wear yourself out."

The Exarch's eyes flashed at your challenge, though you could not see them.

"I will not rest until you are satiated. Nevertheless," he implores, pressing a soft kiss to your stomach before sitting up. "I beg that you would trust me."

You grinned weakly, still slightly out of breath after all his enthusiastic attention. “You’ve given me no reason not to.” 

Well - technically he _had_ , but in this inescapable moment of need, your nethers spoke for you. 

Still, you did trust him regardless. Somehow. 

He smiled back at you and staggered over to his weapon, leaning against the wall. He picked it up, muttered something under his breath, and the area around him began to glow with a surrounding soft, bright blue aura. 

(Was he...)

“Exarch?” you questioned, as you felt an overwhelming rush of aether surge through the air and surround him.

(...pulling energy from the Crystal Tower?)

_(If only you could see his crimson eyes as they shone with the willpower of emperors past.)_

_(His crystalline veins gleamed golden with the vaunted bloodline of scholars and all of the knowledge therein.)_

_(He was determined to put the boundless, inexhaustible wisdom of the Ancients to use -  
even if only for to make you come unraveled until you screamed for him,  
and then put you back together so he might do it again and again.) _

“Take my hand,” he commanded regally, reaching out to you with newfound energy. Your fingers tangled, your palms pressed tightly together, and he slammed the butt of his tall stave against the floor below you. The familiar magic of a teleportation spell enveloped the two of you with a flash, depositing you in an unfamiliar room that appeared to be within Syrcus Tower itself.

The glow dissipated as he set the weapon back in its place, but his inorganic arm still pulsed with inner light, and his footsteps glowed on the crystal below as he stalked towards the _much_ more luxurious-looking bed waiting in the corner of the room, nearly dragging you with him.

  
His aether tingled at you pleasantly, but you were still confused. “Why-” you began, but were cut off.

“This is _my_ domain,” he growled with a renewed, unbridled ferociousness, “and I will expend _every_ effort necessary to see you satisfied as you deserve.” Strong hands both plain and crystal alike pushed you down onto his bed and tugged at your thighs, manhandling your sweetly dripping center back towards him as his mouth descended enthusiastically on you once more.

The fierce, tender warmth of the Exarch’s tongue was slowly growing familiar to your hungrily clenching hole, even as he probed it yet deeper inside you and withdrew to your whines only to trail up to tease at your more sensitive areas. His _hands_ , however- gods, you loved his hands right now, you thought as he slid a warm, unyielding digit within you once more, prodding at your walls.

If you concentrated, you could almost feel the spell and its warmth tingling at you from the inside out. Still, this was not so different than his earlier efforts, but enjoyable nonetheless. You relaxed slightly, and allowed the rising pleasure to build, higher and higher.

He added a second finger to the slick mess leaking from you with little effort, and then a third, and then you felt him smirk and- static?  
  
A shocking rush of aether coursed through him and into to you as if it were lightning drawn to a metal spire. You felt your hips involuntarily buck deeper into his mouth as you cried out, surfing that overwhelming wave of electric pleasure, chasing the comet’s tail despite knowing it had the power to undo you.

He waited until you had caught your breath- and did it _again._

This time, you _shrieked._

The combination of the two was more than enough to send you crashing over the edge once more, again and again, tears leaking out of the corner of your eyes as you felt yourself twitch with each wave of overstimulation.

The aether faded and he lapped slowly, gently at your over-sensitized skin.

“I want- I want..” you tried and failed to say.

He halted the movements of his (rather talented) tongue and began pressing kisses to your inner thighs instead, still stroking you from the inside out. “Yes, my inspiration?” he asked unabashedly as you stuttered, and smiled up at you with such warmth that you felt yourself flush to the tips of your ears, as if you weren’t already red to begin with. 

For every word he spoke, the sheer reverence therein felt almost sacred, as if by language alone he was devoting his utmost energies to worship your very being to the stars and beyond. 

Warrior of Light or not, what had you done that could ever deserve such adulation?

You caught up with the rush of your emotions and finally stammered, “I- I want more than just your mouth and hands. If I can - that is, if you would let me?” 

Hidden eyes stared at you from beneath a shadowed hood as he withdrew his fingers from your clenching heat. His mouth lay half open in disbelief and yet twisted in hesitance. Indecision lay plainly wrote on what little of his face that you could see.

Much as he would love-  
Dare he-?  
No. He could not risk it.   
Still, perhaps...he could try something.

“I can not reveal my identity to anyone, not at this time,” the Exarch began hesitantly, stroking your thigh gently. “There is too much at stake.”

“I know,” you replied with more bravery than you felt. “I’m not asking you to.” Though his face was half hidden, his expression was somehow... fragile. Open. Unguarded. You wanted to kiss him over and over again until he stopped looking as if he was merely waiting for the next meteor to fall.

He exhaled, beautiful lips pursed with thought and still slick with your essence. He nodded to himself, seemingly decided on a course of action. “Knowing this, would you yet still have me?”

Absolutely. “I would,” you answered.

A blinding smile split his face, still dripping lewdly with your juices. He leaned over and cupped your chin with a crystalline touch, still surprisingly warm for its infragility (perhaps due to the magic he had been working), and kissed you with a sweetness that spoke more of underlying emotion than your intimate flavour. As you relaxed into him, eyes closed and tasting yourself in his mouth, he gestured out of your sight with the golden focus, and your vision went dark - well, darker. You blinked, and saw nothing. He kissed the drying tears from your face.

“Is this okay?” he asked tenderly, his hands trailing from your face down to your chest, tweaking a nipple each as you cried out in equal parts agreement and pleasure, nodding. Another gentle kiss, and you could feel the pressure of him leave the bed. 

The wait - mere seconds, in truth - felt like days. You whimpered, the throbbing between your legs still somehow slightly unabated despite the multiple times you had already come on the Exarch’s tongue and hands.

Was that _rustling_ you heard?

The bed dipped with the Exarch’s weight once more as he finally climbed back onto the mattress. You squirmed with impatience as his presence got nearer until it seemed he was nearly on top of you.

 _Oh_ , you thought with a jolt of heat, as the softness of his bare thigh brushed your own.

“Easy,” he whispered shakily into your ear, much closer than you had been expecting. Silken strands of what could only be his long, unfettered hair brushed your chest with the gentlest of touches. You felt your legs parted and pushed up at an angle and- you groaned as a stiff warmth, impossibly hot and slick, pressed gently against your entrance, as if testing it. 

A gravelly voice begged, “Please...” and his hands, shuddering with restraint, tightened their grip on your ankles.

The voice had been yours, you realized, but you didn’t care.

You needed him inside you more than you had ever needed your pride.

Reaching down, you gripped his length (ignoring his gasp of surprise) and guided it inside your overslick, excessively lubricated entrance, groaning as the sweet warmth stretched and filled your aching heat, and almost entirely quenched your need that had been present ever since the skies had split in twain. 

It was very nearly enough, you thought in bliss as you rolled your hips desperately towards the direction of his body, trying in vain to take in as much of him as you could with what little movement you had available to you. You could _almost_ reach-

His member twitched, hidden deep within your quivering walls.

- _there-_

A broken cry came from above you. 

“Are you alright?” you asked with concern and, somehow, found the willpower within to stay your ministrations. Your thighs were shaking with the need to _move_ and chase the pleasure you knew was waiting _right_ around the corner, so close you could taste it, and the pulsing dampness between your legs had only gotten worse since your body had realized its aetherochemical heat was finally going to be satiated.

But if you had somehow hurt him in your impatience…

A firm touch of pressure to your forehead as he leaned his crown against yours. His nose brushed your own softly, shaking his head slowly side-to-side in a silent no while he tried to regain control of himself. His breath fell in unsteady puffs across your face, panting. 

“G-gods…” his voice cracked with desire once more, and you felt the mattress dip as his weight shifted towards the side slightly. He braced himself on a steady arm, leaving his unmarred one free to intertwine your fingers with his own. He rocked slowly into you with a soft kiss and a shaky laugh. "Unbelievable," he whispered, gently caressing your thumb with his own.

The intimacy would undo you both. 

  
You both shouted as the Exarch finally bottomed out with a slow, delicate thrust. He trembled, held firm for a brief moment-

_(He looked down, and met your eyes, unseeing but clouded nevertheless with lust-)_

_(only for **him** -)_

-and gave in to his baser instincts, speeding up rapidly, his skin now slapping against yours with sharp, wet sounds as you cried out once more.

The resonating aether within the room rebounded the growing pleasure between the two of you in an endless loop of more, more, _more_ -

You both held on as long as you could, but... it was too much.

With a cry, you fell over the precipice, dragging the Exarch over the ledge with you as he felt your insides quiver around him, and finally spent himself to the shout of your name.

It had never sounded so sweet.

You wanted to hear it _again_.

An increasingly familiar color lit up the room, this time nearly so bright as to be blinding.

Were your sight not magically shielded from seeing- well, _anything_ , really- you would fear for your continued vision.

As it already was, you could see his the edges of his arm and neck, a section of his bare chest, a sliver of his cheek-

-and felt him stiffen within you once more.

“How long,” you gasped as the glow of crystal faded into the darkness of your vision and he began to slam into you fervently once more. “How long can you-”

“As long as you need,” the Exarch replies, voice nearly hoarse with how fiercely he had shouted for you. 

Though you knew he was probably telling the truth, you couldn’t help but hear the challenge in his words. You smirked weakly and tilted your hips up, ever so slightly angling him deeper inside, chasing your own pleasure as you fought to make him lose his indomitable composure once more. 

_We’ll see about that_ , you thought, pulling him closer _._

* * *

Warmth blossomed in his chest as the Warrior’s snores echoed quietly in his ears. G’raha smiled softly, looking beside him at your finally, _finally_ exhausted form spread out on _his_ bed.

How had he ever been so lucky as to deserve this? he thought, wiping his eyes free of the moisture that threatened to gather. 

Still, he knew it was not to last.

Later, he would don his cloak of mystery anew once more, and resume his role as quest giver and keeper of secrets untold. But for now he would lay beside you, watching over _your_ slumber for once, and wait for the first dawn to break in nigh a hundred years.

His throat would likely be sore in the morning or even days to come (to say nothing of the rest of him) - but he knew he would not regret a single instant of that night.

Not now, not ever.

Even knowing what lay at the end of his long-ago predestined path… 

No matter what came, until his final days in the First, he would forever hold your cries of passion in his memories, as an inspiration to him in the brightest and darkest of nights.

_\--fin--_

**Author's Note:**

> the first nsfw thing i have ever (and I do mean _ever_ ) written to completion - no pun intended.
> 
> i blame the bookclub server for this, but if you liked it for some reason, consider reading the other fics in this collection.  
> and maybe come stop by and meet our [“wholesomely debauched and enabling” horde of wacky people](https://discord.gg/YgkDStS), without whom this fic would never have existed.
> 
> as a fledgling fic writer your comments and kudos mean the worlds to me, so - even if you have nothing but keysmash to say, I'd still like to read it. :)  
> hope you enjoyed!
> 
> (also the 5.3 trailer scares me and I hope we're _all_ wrong and nothing bad happens ever)


End file.
